Drum-trap guard.



M. BLOCK.

, DRUM TRAP GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. I916.

1,243,245. Patented 00. 16,1917;

MANDEL BLOCK, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

DRUM-TRAP. GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent. PatentedOc't, 16, 19 17.

Application filed November 22,1916. Serial No. 132,764.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MANDEL BLocK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ghicago, in the county of Cook and State'of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Drum-Trap Guards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to traps used in plumbing, and the object of the invention is to provide means for preventing the loss of jewelry and other valuable articles in case they may be dropped into the tub or other receptacle from which water is being discharged. In order to most readilyimpart the principle of operation of the invention, I have chosen to illustrate it in connection with a drum trap connected to the waste of a'bath tub. It will be understood that as bath tubs and other plumbing receptacles are usually installed, there is a very strong suction after the waste water has been running for a few minutes, due to the considerable head in the waste pipe which leads down to the sewer. If the bath tub is twenty feet above the discharge mouth of the waste pipe, there will be a suction approximately equivalent to the weight of a column of water twenty feet in height, and hence, as soon as the waste pipe has been filled with water, the suction is very strong' In many installations the down rush has been sufficient to carry off finger rings and other small articles of value in spite of the fact that the articles themselves were heavy enough to rapidly sink in still water.

The object of my invention is to provide means for preventing the loss of such articles under these conditions and to provide a trap of such construction that such articles will be sure to be retained instead of being drawn off into the sewer.

I obtain my object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which;

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a typical installation. In this View, the drum, cover and guard are shown in axial section.

Fig. 2 is a view, chiefly in vertical central section, on the line 22, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an axial section of the bushing employed at the outlet of the drum.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the installation selected to illustrate the invention, let it be assumed that the pipe 1 leads from the waste of the bath tub and that pipe leadsdown to the sewer. The trap proper is in'the from of a drum 3 provided with a screw cover 1. Let it also be assumed that the installation follows the usual practice and that the upper end of the drum is flush with the surface of the bathroom floor so that the projecting flange of the coverwill practically rest upon the floor. At the bottom of the drumis aninternally threaded, upwardly turned, boss 4 which produces an annular pocket 5 between it and the internal wall of the drum. This pocket is of sufficient size to retain finger rings and other comparatively small articles and in a suitable construction this annular pocket is about half an inch or more wide and half an inch or more deep, although these dimensions may, of course, be varied. At the side of the drum usually somewhere between the middle and the top, is an internally-threaded boss 6, into which the receiving end of the waste pipe 2 screws. v screws'into the boss 6,=but from the inner side, saidbushing having an annular shoulder 8 which, when the bushing is screwed home, abuts the inner end of the boss and holds the bushing securely in place. The mouth 9 of the bushing flares to readily receive the cylindrical stem 10 of the guard 11. This guard may be made of brass, tinned iron, or other suitable sheet. metal and its stem is of such diameter as to make a sliding fit with the cylindrical inner surface 12 of the bushing. Hence the guard may be readily inserted into the bushing but when fully inserted will be firmly held in place by the bushing. The head of the guard is enlarged and preferably of the form, approximately, of an oblate spheroid or flattened sphere with its equator or zone of maximum diameter arranged in a vertical plane approximately over the center of the inlet. The guard head has a number of apertures 13, the aggregate area whereof is sufficient to let the water flow freely through the system. One advantage in having the head enlarged is that it affords greater area for the perforations and hence insures against retarding the water. The advantage in having the equator located as it is, is that the inclined or beveled sides tend to throw rising objects to one side where they may drop into the annular pocket 5.

In operation, let it be assumed that the A bushing 7 also- Copies of this patent may be obtained for device is installed as shown in Fig. 1 and let it be assumed that the trap is lower than the tub in accordance with the usual practice. When the stopper is removed from the tub the water flows comparatively slowly at first, but there soon develops a strong suction with a corresponding rapid rush of water. Let itbe assumed that a finger ring has been accidentally dropped or has-been swept into the outlet at the bottom of the tub. The rushing Water will carry the ring through pipe 1 up into the drum 3 and if no guard or bushing were provided, the water would frequently, if not certainly, carry the ring upward in the drum and outward through the waste pipe 2 down into the sewer. With my device, however, the ring will strike against the head of the guard 11 and be thrown back of it. On account of the beveled sides of the guard head, there will bea tendency to throw the ring to one side or other of the drum out of the path of the uprushing stream and toward pocket 5. In any event,

the presence of the pocket will cause eddy currents and these will tend to throw the ring toward the side of the drum into quiet water where the ring may drop down into the pocket. When once safely lodged in the pocket, the stream of water passing through the drum will have practically no efi-ectupon it and the owner may rest content in knowing that the ring will remain A drum trap having an inlet at the bot tom and an outlet at the side, said outlet being internally threaded to receive the properly threaded end of a discharge pipe, a bushing screwing into said outlet from the inner end thereof and having a shoulder bearing against the inner end of the outlet, said bushing having a cylindrical inner surface flaring at the inner end, a guard having a cylindrical stem fitting into the cylindrical surface of the bushing, and a foraminous head supported by said stem, said head being in the form of an oblate spheroid and its maximum diameter being considerably greater than the diameter of the stem to thereby afiord abundant superficial area for the foraminations.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

- MANDEL BLOCK.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

